A printed circuit board (PCB) is commonly used as a substrate for electrical circuitry. As is known, electrical components may be surface mounted on a PCB in a desired configuration and connected as desired with traces so as to provide the desired circuitry. The functionality of the circuitry can range from something relatively complex like a motherboard for a computer to a simple circuit that includes just one or two electrical components.
In order to provide electrical communication between the circuitry on the PCB and other components not on the PCB, wires may be soldered to conductors provided on a surface of the PCB. However, another possible method of providing electrical communication with the circuitry on the PCB is to mount a connector on the PCB that is in electrical communication with the circuitry. Then, a mating connector can be attached to the mounted connector. This is helpful if multiple wires are to be attached to the circuitry on the PCB. For example, the mounted connector may include a number of conductors connected to circuitry on the PCB and these conductors may be coupled to other components (which may be external to the PCB) by simply installing the mating connector on the mounted connector. In other words, a number of conductors can be coupled together by performing one operation (joining two connectors together), and for example, the circuitry on two separate PCBs can be conveniently brought into electrical communication.
While the use of mating connectors is known, certain problems can exist. When mounting a connector with a number of conductors on the PCB, the conductors in the connector can be soldered to surface conductors on the PCB. If the conductors in the connector are soldered to the surface conductors on the PCB, it is possible that solder melted by the soldering action may inadvertently bridge two conductors that were not intended to be in electrical communication, potentially causing the circuitry or the connector (or both) to short out, possibly causing the entire circuitry to become waste. Furthermore, the respective conductors in the mating connector and mounted connector sometimes get damaged or have trouble forming a desirable electrical connection because one of the conductors in one of the connectors becomes contaminated by dirt or corrosion or other contaminants that prevent the conductors from the two connectors from forming the electrical connection. Furthermore, vibrations can cause the electrical connection between respective conductors in mating connectors to become intermittent, especially if one or both suffers from some degree of contamination. Therefore, improvements to known connectors would be beneficial.